A gas plant near Tomslake, B.C. flares gas and exhaust into the air late in the evening on Thursday Jan 8 2009. RCMP announced on January 8 2010 a suspect was taken into custody in relation to several pipeline bombings that have been occuring in the area.John Lucas
/ Canwest News Service

Site of an explosion at an Encana pipeline is shown near Tomslake, B.C. on Jan. 5, 2009, one in a series of pipeline bombings. A B.C. newspaper has received a letter connected to the pipeline explosions.Global TV
/ Canwest News Service

EDMONTON — Convicted oilpatch bomber Wiebo Ludwig is going to be charged with one count of extortion of the energy company EnCana, which has been the target of a mysterious series of attacks on gas pipelines in northeastern B.C. over the past 15 months.

It's a stunning turn of events in the case, considering that Ludwig was said last year to be helping police bring the attacks to an end.

"He is under arrest and he is going to be charged with extortion," said Ludwig's lawyer Paul Moreau after speaking to RCMP. "My information at this point, is that no other charges are going to be laid."

However, said Moreau, the Crown can always lay other charges at a future date, if it has the evidence to do so.

Ludwig was arrested by the RCMP in connection with the bombings of EnCana's pipelines in northern British Columbia on Friday morning.

"We believe he's been arrested," said Richard Boonstra, a family friend who lives on the same property. "That's all we know. We're in the dark here."

Moreau, who represented Ludwig in his earlier criminal trial, said he received a phone call between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Friday morning from Ludwig's son Bo, informing him that his father was in RCMP custody.

No names were officially released by the RCMP Friday night, because no one had been charged.

Paul Joosse, a University of Alberta sociologist who has studied the pipeline bombings, said Ludwig went to a Grande Prairie, Alta., hotel room Friday morning to meet with Mounties, expecting to talk to them about repairing the relationship between the oil industry and the community.

"That was the understanding going into the meeting and it turned out it was an opportunity to arrest Mr. Ludwig," he said.

RCMP Insp. Tim Shields told CTV News that investigators had obtained new evidence in the fall that made them consider the person arrested a suspect on Friday.

He said the arrest was the result of an extensive and at times, covert investigation. The arrest took place without incident, Shields said.

Boonstra said Mounties showed up at the Ludwig property near Hythe — less than an hour from the area where the bombings took place — around 8 a.m. Friday and began searching.

Moreau said the warrant for the Ludwig property allows the RCMP to search the property for up to five days. That's highly unusual, said the lawyer, since most warrants allow police much shorter access to conduct a search.

"We cannot say what we are looking for specifically, or what information led us to the location, but we have followed a trail of evidence that ultimately led to the execution of the search warrant," said Supt. Lloyd Plante, assistant criminal operations officer for the RCMP's National Security Program in British Columbia.

Starting in October 2008, there have been six bomb attacks targeting remote EnCana pipelines and wellheads.

The attacks began after an anonymous letter was sent to local newspapers warning the energy giant to cease its operations in the area south of Dawson Creek, B.C., about 600 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

The bombings, which RCMP have called "domestic terrorism," have exposed the ongoing resentment some area residents feel toward the oil and gas development taking place near their communities.

Ludwig publicly entered the fray in October, breaking 10 months of silence on the attacks, when he said investigators had enlisted his help in coming up with a strategy to stop the bombings.

"They asked if I was willing to talk with a couple of the industry players representing some of these concerns of the (residents)," said Ludwig, who added he spent about 90 minutes with Mounties from the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team at a Dawson Creek motel.

"It was a pretty amicable meeting."

Ludwig wrote an open letter to the bomber. In it, he urged the bomber to abandon his violent tactics.

"I want to encourage you not to let anger about such stupidity get the best of you and to realize that these conflicts cannot ultimately be settled by use of force, but by way of informed and patient persuasion," Ludwig wrote. "Please give that the time it needs now."

Ludwig's letter also voiced solidarity with the bomber's intentions.

"You've truly woken a lot of people up and stimulated some very valuable discussion," he wrote, adding that the bombings have highlighted opposition some residents feel toward gas operations in the area over safety concerns, Ludwig wrote.

Ludwig also said at the time he believed the bomber has been spooked enough to stop the vandalism.

"My gut feeling is that nothing's going to happen," said Ludwig.

"I think whoever is doing it is bright enough not to do anything right now," he added. "He's been pretty quiet."

EnCana spokesman Alan Boras said the company couldn't say much about Friday's events to avoid prejudicing any future potential legal proceedings.

"EnCana is very pleased the RCMP has advanced the investigation and made an arrest," Boras said.

He thanked the people who live around the pipeline for their support and said he hoped an arrest would bring trust and security back to the area. He also thanked EnCana employees who worked "in extremely trying circumstances."

Ludwig is a longtime activist who claimed sour gas wells adversely affected human health, including that of his family members.

He was released from prison in 2001 after serving two-thirds of a 28-month sentence for five charges related to oilpatch bombing and vandalism.

"Regardless of who the person is, I'm glad the RCMP have made an arrest and I hope they can follow it up with a charge," he said.

"Throughout this whole investigation the RCMP, for obvious reasons, have had to look at everybody and I've had to do the same thing . . . For Mr. Ludwig, obviously he's a high-profile individual in situations like this. The only thing we'll do is hope that whatever information the RCMP have, we hope they have the right person. Then we can put this behind us."

The search of the Ludwig property is a sharp turn for the 15-month investigation, which had seemed largely centered on the Dawson Creek area. Investigators repeatedly said that some locals were not forthcoming to police.

In October, RCMP said they did not have a "prime suspect," only people of interest.

While some other media had reported that one of Ludwig's sons was in police custody, Moreau said no one from the farm had mentioned any other arrest.

Bernier said he's starting to get reaction from residents.

"I've had three phone calls in the last five minutes from local people. Most people are saying, 'Holy cow, I hope they got the right person, this is great and we don't have to worry about this anymore.' "

Bernier said he doesn't think the bombings have stifled industry activity at all.

"Dawson Creek is sitting on top of one of the biggest gas finds in North America. Companies are not going to walk away from that because of somebody who is doing acts of terrorism."

EnCana has offered a $1-million reward for information leading to the bomber. The reward is the highest in Canada since $1 million was offered in connection with the Air India bombing that killed 329 people in 1985.

Moreau, who has been representing Ludwig for more than a decade, said he still considers himself to be Ludwig's lawyer, but that RCMP have yet to return any of this phone calls.

"It does seem odd," he said of Ludwig's connection to a series of bombings in a case where the activist had said he was actually working alongside the RCMP.

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